This SNP defines a subclade of R1b1c. Only sparse information about this
SNP has been released due to commercial constraints. Ethnoancestry, announced the availability
of this SNP on 13th December 2005. At the time of announcement they stated it
had been observed twice in two samples of British origin. They also publicly
thanked Gareth Henson in its development and referred to searching NCBI dbSNP,
so it can be assumed that it is present, but uncharacterized, within that
database. For details about its current position in the Y chromosome haplogroup
tree and other information see www.isogg.org/tree.

Geographical occurrence

Currently on the R SNP table there are 13 S28+ individuals of 84 R1b1c
people tested or 15% are derived for the SNP.†
The ancestral origin of those that are derived span locations across the
entirety of Europe and British Isles, and encompassing: England (x4), Poland,
Greece, France, Germany (x2), Switzerland, Italy, unknown, and Shetlands. The
centre of gravity appears to be Europe. One of the principals of Ethnoancestry,
David Faux, is S28+ and has been also undertaking considerable research
genotyping as well. They have also found it in Southern Norway and in Wales.
His full summary and hypotheses can be read at http://www.davidkfaux.org/dnaprofile2.html
. In brief he ascribes S28+ to have appeared sometime during the LGM and was
located in the Balkan Refugia. After the retreat of the ice, S28+ individuals
traveled north to Germany via the Danube and into Poland. At a much later date
they were associated with the La Tene culture and later still the Cimbri celts.
Further work is required to clarify its exact origin and movement.

Below, I have tried to summarize the results by comparing all S28 tested
individuals plus all other individuals that were derived for R subclades.

The first is the high % of those tested in Europe in haplogroup R
(defined as west of the Black Sea) that are S28+ and the second is that the
level in England is one third of Europe, and it declines again in Scotland and
Ireland. These results do have some biases, but they coincide with other
evidence. The numbers publicly available strongly support a high prevalence in
Europe.

Properties

Below are the S28 modal haplotype and the genetic distance for the first
37 markers compared to the mode of R1b and selected other haplotype clusters.
The modal is actually rather close to R1b but there is a hint that some
clusters particularly R1bSTR2, STR6 and maybe STR43 may be enriched for this
group. The ASD for this group, calculated on the same basis as for the previous
phase 3 analysis ( www.oocities.com/mcewanjc/p3asd.htm†) is 0.383 compared to R1b as a whole of
0.432 which suggests it is 89% of the age of R1b. The actual age estimate is 6541
years. In my opinion this is an underestimate and it probably approximates the
age of the end of the last ice age. †

- Infinite allele mutation model is used
- Values on the diagonal indicate number of markers tested

Summary

S28 is a novel SNP that has been little studied to date that defines a
subgroup of R1b1c. Although caution is required due to biased reporting of SNP
testing it appears to be a reasonably frequent SNP within R1b its age suggests
it occurred in the hunter-gatherer period after the last ice age. Its
distribution strongly suggests it originated in Europe, the moderate frequency
in England is consistent with perhaps one third of the Y chromosomes in the
region having a post hunter-gatherer European origin.

The results also suggest that this SNP clearly has genealogical uses. If
any person was contemplating SNP testing within R1b this SNP should be
included. However, what is required is around 3 times the number of individuals
tested with emphasis on Europe to allow better geographical localization. If
the results are as expected this SNP with have considerable archaeological
value because it will allow questions about population flow and adoption of
farming in the British Isles and Europe to be better addressed.